I have had the Strikemaster Lite Flite since it came out and use it with drill combo. I am debating on pulling the trigger on an actual “auger” and the E40 is on top of the list. I have heard the speed isn’t the most desirable feature these newer augers seem to just cut “easier” is what I have been told.

If my current lite flite would work with the strikemast lineup of augers I probably would go that route since then I would have a back up lite flite.

I don’t think you can go wrong with Alpha Plus if money does not matter. Rarely do you see these YouTube guys that are unaffiliated say “Hands down best auger out there is Alpha Plus… not even close” so it must be the best.

Lot of good options… Couple that I did not see on the list:

Crappie Rod: TUCR Bullwhip with a ACME hammered tungsten gold with either wax worms or minnow.

Walleye: Frostbite Smokeshow with some type of Frostbite Dinner Bell spoon.

Good luck to everyone this season I hope ice is here soon and it is a “normal” ice season.

I have been using the cheap scheels gloves. They are lined and have rubber on the palm and fingers of the gloves. I just bring couple or three pair. You have decent dexterity for reeling and grabbing items from sleds. I agree with what someone said though that you need to have a couple of different styles with you at all times but these scheels ones are best bang for buck that I have found.

That rod will be perfect for LOW. Good luck on your trip. If you are mainly going to use this rod indoors as a deadstick then there are cheaper options of course but you can’t go wrong with adding this to your arsenal. Pair with baitfeeder reel… may seem excessive but trust me it helps IMO.

We are doing early ice on Upper Red. We had to reschedule from last year and hoping we don’t have same conditions as last year. If your looking for a neat adventure I would say early ice do the airboat trip for perch and whatever on the Mississippi. Cool experience and can be really good fishing. Good luck and fingers crossed for good ice this year.

Bigwerm check out Lake Arrowhead near Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Has two nice courses that are pretty friendly. Lakes and Pines. Not going to break the bank. If you have a large budget located right across the street is Sand Valley. They have three golf courses. Sand Valley is owned by same company as Bandon Dunes and is a nation wide destination. Have to walk though… But Lake Arrowhead I think your group would enjoy.

Plus Lake Petenwell and Castle Rock are right there if you want to add in some fishing too…

Rivergills wrote:

Been using the HT cleats, the ones that slip over the front of boot. Work good but they have no cleat on the heel part of boot.

What model of the korkers you using?
Thanks

I am not sure the brand but they are about $40-50. I think I just need to go up a couple of sizes. I agree on not skimping as one fall is all it takes.

Dan Buchmann wrote:

Usually we work in groups of 4-6 students so one person drilling, someone checking depths or using an underwater camera to check bottoms then we’ll use livescope and vexilars for the actual fishing. It’s just going to help us eliminate water during our tournaments. We have fundraised and have about $10000 in our account so the kids decided they wanted to purchase one.

You can piece together and save some money but i purchased the LV32 bundle this fall and it was super easy to unpack and just fish with. I bought the ice bundle and used the stock pole this winter it was okay but I will upgrade. I bought a lithium 30 AH battery. For open water I just bought a simple transom mount trolling bracket and use PVC pipe for pole it worked great and very inexpensive.

I have one fooler. How do you set foolers up for light bites?

Seems to me that I have to set it with the trigger kind of off the board to get it to detect light bites. I have tried it couple of times I guess I am not sure how impressed I am with it. I really want them to work though as taking them with is way nicer than I fish Pro.

I think first and foremost you should base your decision on how thick the ice you fish is typically and how much ice your cutting in a day. Some of the new augers do cut a significantly larger amount of ice than others.

For me I run the lite flight with a drill as my ice rarely gets over 20 inches. I have multiple 5 amp batteries so that system works for me.

Second I would look at if you have a vehicle to get around with like a wheeler, side by side or if you drive your vehicle regularly. If so then weight maybe is not a huge difference obviously for the couple of times you walk out.

At then end of the day I agree with most of the comments in that whatever “new” auger you get the best deal on you will like as they all are approximately the same.

I just bought a pair at fleet farm they were on sale. Have been on ice three times with them and they seem good. Not as warm as you may want but decent for being outside. I have been happy with water proof ness. Only thing is they kind of neck down in a sense and getting them on and off is not super easy but then again they do fit my hands nicely.

Suffix Ice magic 3 lb for panfish. I use this inside or outside. I like the clear but tying is a challenge as I age… they do make an orange that is easier to see.

For walleye if I am inside my shack I use like 8-10 suffix braid to a 6-12 pound leader with UNI knot. Leader depends on water clarity more than anything. I use PLine Fluro (open water) line for leader.

If I am outside jigging for walleye I use straight PLine (open water) Fluro in that 6-8 pound range. I have not had any issues compared to ice line using regular line.

Good luck!

The striker gloves were on sale at Fleet Farm so I am going to give them a try. To this point I have been using the cheap rubber coated ones from scheels. I bring a couple pair with me. But from initial try on the stealth may have a little ore dexterity. The scheels ones are not marketed as water proof but are somewhat water proof. The scheels ones are the “Scheels Outfitters Coated Gloves”

Rodwork wrote:

This sounds like you want the Blue Ice 48” rod they sold for $10. No backbone at all and flexes all the way through the handle. Where are you located? I might have one you can have.

I have one of the 48 inchers with an okuma baitfeeder reel and I was going to suggest this to you. It works great outside and in my Outgreak 650XD. I was looking online but could not find any for sale I hope they still make them. I saw a link for the 36 inch… that would probably work as well.

Just a quick FYI in case anyone out there is in the market for a rod made by this company. I ended up going with the Mr. Noodles.

My experience has been with the TUCR line up and the Mr. Noodles would be similar to the Precision Noodle. I think the feather duster would be kind of like a bullwhip but probably not as sensitive? Anyway I do like these rods as they have great actions and well built. Price difference is simply because you don’t have the recoil guides which IMO are worth the lesser value.

Tight lines.

Sylvanboat wrote:

I watched a video for the Oshkosh show this weekend saying parking at the St Paul show was $20-30 and beers were $12. Was this true?

I am guessing Oshkosh was cheaper but not that much cheaper. VIP ticket for St Paul was $15 and parking right across street where you walk to show through tunnel was $20. A beer was around $10.

There was a decent line up at Oshkosh for Vendors but St Paul show still have more. I think it is horse a piece and no sales tax in St Paul on clothing so you save a bit that way as well.

Both shows looks like were worth going to. I wanted to get a FrostBite fishing rod and they were not at the Oshkosh show so well worth it for me to attend St Paul.

If you were looking for comments as far as if livescope is worth the money for ice fishing I would say for sure YES. It is a tool to find fish. Lot of people use it as a locating fish tool and then fish with their traditional flasher. I think that if you watch videos you will see how valuable a tool it is for ice fishing and open water for knowing what your looking at.

I just purchased the ice bundle with the LV32 a couple of months ago and you can use it open water or ice fishing. Looking forward to using it this winter and the 93sv seems to be a good unit. touch screen which I have never had the pleasure of using is a nice option.

I thought I got a good deal but now the black friday deals are same as I paid.. .some are cheaper. Go for it if you can afford it you will not look back.

Mojo,

I just was in your position. Sold my boat last spring and told the wife I would do that only if I could buy a live imaging unit before ice season. I have always been a hummingbird guy but ended up finding a couple on FB that won a Garmin LV 32 Ice Fishing Bundle and bought it new in the box at a slight discount. I was in scheels the other day and saw my same set up for $2,099. The bundle runs off the 93 SV unit which is touch screen.

Garmin is better than Hummingbird with the live imaging but if you are running lake master mapping then you may want to stick with hummingbird. The LV 32 is not as good as the 34 BUT if you don’t fish in super deep water then I don’t think you will be upset with the 32. The 34 will be clearer in deeper water detecting your bait deep and you will have more clarity at say 70-100 feet in forward mode but the LV32 is a good unit and I am happy with mine but only had in water 3 times so far and still learning it.

The package comes with everything you would need to fish. For $25 I made a DIY pole system that attaches to side of boat for summer use. Only thing I am going to buy is a new battery as the one that comes with the units is a lead acid. I will use that as back up if for some reason my new one goes dead.

I have always bought units you can use year round and live imaging is no exception so yes it is more pricey but you get use all year round. Can mark waypoints for summer and winter. I had the Helix 7 MSImaging and don’t miss it. For Ice Fishing I do have a couple other flashers I will use to hole hop once I find fish.

Pull the plug if you can. You won’t regret it.

I am heading up there second week of December and hope the walleyes are willing!

Should be a good trip.

If your talking actual leader material Seaguar Blue Label is the stuff I use it comes in all kinds of tests. If I am not fishing Pike I use Pline it is way more price friendly and works great for anything but pike.

I run 6-12 pound depending on water clarity and what I can get away with.

On leader for walleye and panfish I rarely go over 6 pound when I am using jig rod. On set lines if water clarity is not good and I don’t worry about fish seeing line I will use 12 pound Pline on tip ups for walleye.

I bought the blue label for Pike as an alternative to braid or steel leaders but I don’t pike fish much.

For a first time visit how crazy is it to get on and off the ice if you plan a trip during first couple of weeks for December? We would be walking or if ice is sufficient driving full size truck. Be too long of a drive to bring the wheeler I think. \

I think that the “mobile” service is a little bit more than the home service?

In general though everyone I know that has it is very happy. I would say I have 10 people I know that have it. For a fish house I can see how it would be awesome then you can have it on your boat or car in summer.

Rodwork wrote:

Most dead sticks are made on fiberglass blanks. Here is s screen shoot of the taper of some of the more popular blanks. I enjoy sanding and shaping blanks to get the desired action. They are not hard to paint or you can take all the paint off and leave it naked. As onepine suggested, it is easier to trim the blank if that gives you your desired action. You can see from the graph that I would not shorten most of the blanks too much from its original length if you want to keep enough backbone. Did you have a length in mind?

Just curious on the savings of building a rod versus purchasing? I know you have to spend $$$ to be able to build one but I am just curious how much the components are to build a nice ice rod are versus purchasing say a nice custom rod for 120-160 bucks.

This is all good information so far!

Just going to ask if the flight is metal or composite? What is overall weight on yours? Anything your looking to trade for?

tswoboda wrote:

MK Transom mount trolling motor bracket p/n 2991815A

It’s solid to about 4 MPH and starts to wobble faster than that.

Do you think this would work on the side of the boat as well or just off the back?

tswoboda wrote:

MK Transom mount trolling motor bracket p/n 2991815A

It’s solid to about 4 MPH and starts to wobble faster than that.

This looks perfect. You can use any pole with this then I am guessing?

Quick update I found Garmin Ice Fishing Bundle on Facebook I am going to buy. I will upgrade the pole and shuttle over time but this was a fair price I think at $1900. I think the person won it at a raffle and didn’t want it. Thanks for all the feedback.

I would say ability to be mobile. Don’t always have to chase around the lake to catch them and sometimes sitting in a spot is best but… in the case you do need to move around a bunch being efficient and mobile is best. I think over time the number one thing I have noticed in my gear is it getting lighter and less of it. I love to tip up fish and use I fish Pro’s but they are the bulkiest thing I think I have in my arsenal… Staying warm is always a plus LOL.

Thanks everyone I will have to look for the sale at Scheels seems like a good place to start and get me through winter. Tight lines everyone….